Serie A Thread - 2014/15 Season

Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

Wow! i didn't realize milan were going through such a change. i got the feeling this will be an interesting transfer window.
oh and yeah, i agree about van bommel. always rated him as a player, but never really liked him as a person until he came in italy. the thing is when a player plays abroad, u don't get many chances to hear him talking (in interviews and such), especially if u don't spend much time on the internet, so it's quite easy to get a wrong impression. i guess that was the case with van bommell, as the man appears to be much more easy going, nice and smart than he let on. i'm sold :))

so guys, the season is over... how about some best starting 11s of the season? i can't do one, as i haven't watched enough football this year to really have an idea of who the best performers were, but i'd be curious to see yours.

also has any of u guys ever seen this verratti kid playing? because all this hype is freaking me out. italian football journalists are usually much more reasonable and balanced than their foreign colleagues when it comes to youngsters, but not even in england u see such crazyness around a youngster... even the most balanced journalists and pundits of them all (sconcerti, rizzo, marcheggiani, bergomi) are picturing this kid like he were the second coming. and now he made the first cut for the national team?!?!
so have u guys seen this kid playing? is he really this good?
i have watched pescara once this season (the reason being zeman, of course) and that other wonderkid insigne seriously blew my mind! but verratti was injured so i didn't see him play.
oh and btw u guys realize we'll probably have zeman coaching in serie a next season, do u?! :BOP: i can't wait to see if he still got it.
 
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Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

This should be an interesting transfer windwow!

I can't WAIT to have Zeman back in Serie A! Hope it happens.

As for the Verrati kid, never seen him play either. Excited to see what the hype is about too. Is he another Giovinco type ?
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

Lots of talks of him going to us, can't wait to see what's the fuss all about. :)
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

Well, I've mainly been watching Milan matches this year, and bits of Diretta Gol. I started the year watching loads of matches, but then gradually got too busy, so here's my shot at the best 11. I always try to include more teams rather than just the big teams... but there are too many awesome players from this season.

------------------Marchetti-----------------

-------Basta----Barzagli---Legrotaglie---Lulic----

-----------Nocerino---Vidal----Rigoni--------------

--------Giovinco----------------Di Natale----------

-------------------Ibrahimovic----------------------

I didn't include Pirlo because this season he played at his normal level... which is amazing. So I don't see a point in including him, it would be like including Thiago Silva every year.

Honorary mentions:

- ST - Destro, Milito, Palacio, Dennis, Miccoli, Muriel, Klose, Pinilla
- M - Moralez, Ramirez, Gomez, Marchisio, Marquinho (thought he was awesome), Mauri, Schelotto, Diamanti, Bradley
- D - Silvestre, Acerbis, Paletta, Bonera, Bonucci, Nesta, Chiellini (can't think of anyone else right now....)
- GK - Fontana, Benassi (is that the Lecce one?), Handanovic
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

No love for Lichtsteiner? He had a fantastic season. One of our best players this season imo.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

No mention of Lodi? I think he's been excellent for Catania this season.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

Yeah, him too. Man, it's hard to choose really. Consdering we haven't mentioned any Napoli players like Gargano, Cavani, Inler. Maybe it's bias because I'm half Macedonian, but I thought Pandev had an excellent season aswell.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

I thought Pandev did quite well this season... started off quite poorly but then became more important and consistent. Lodi has been great too - I think he has the best FK to goals ratio in the league.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

Yeah he even managed to bench Lavezzi for a while.

Cavani and Napoli (With Napoli I mean De Laurentiis) appear to have a fight about Cavani going to the Olympics.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

This Higuain interest by Juve seems quite real - I'm convinced he'll become a 20+ goal scorer at Juve. I can't help but imagine that he just fits. Scary stuff for Milan fans.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

Napoli beat Juve incredible stuff! especially the bird walking up w/ Trophy. :CONFUSE:
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

Napoli did it! Didn't expect that. Conte should have went with his best squad.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

Great stuff by Napoli. Juve were toothless up front but Napoli dominated most of the game and deserved the win.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

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Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

Napoli's (both fans & players) attitude towards opponent teams in big games is just scary. They make me feel like they are not playing football but actually battling those teams and I mean these in a good way. I can't myself see any reason why they couldn't easily make it to the top if they could show the same respect to the smaller teams. Napoli's quality is worthy of more than just a local cup imho. Just got to love these kind of direct attacking teams. Combining with Juventus' combative spirit as well, the cup final was one of the most intense games I've watched this season. Didn't like the ref's influence over the game though.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

The_Special_One said:
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Love this. :D Just wish it one .gif instead of all those tiny ones.

Gutted we lost, but Napoli dserved to win to be honest. Although I though we should've gotten a penalty at 0-0 for a challenge from behind from Aronica on Marchisio.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

Kanouté said:
I can't myself see any reason why they couldn't easily make it to the top if they could show the same respect to the smaller teams.
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true. that's easier said than done though. that's infact one of the 2 main differences between a top club and a midclass club (the other reason being the money). a top club handles every game with the same focus, hunger and determination, no matter what opponent they're facing.
this juventus team for instance (despite the thin roster) already has a proper top club mentality, because they will display the same intensity and the same attention to detail, wheter they're playing against real madrid or chievo. napoli still has to get there. but then again that's normal. infact we might even say napoli are doing a terrific job, speaking of mentality. sure they had some false steps during the season, but the fact that they were still fighting for the 3rd place till the very end of the year (in a season in wich they also had to play in champions league for the first time) speaks for itself. no italian midclass club has ever handled so well the league and the CL. so they're not "there" yet, but they've already done much better than any serie a midclass club has ever done, in terms of focus and mentality.

the real problem is the money. we tend to believe that the gap between great midclass clubs and top clubs isn't that big. napoli is the perfect example actually. we've seen napoli spanking serie a's top clubs for a few years now.... and this season also european fans have noticed what a nice team this is, whenever they measured themselves up against some european giants (like man city, chelsea and bayern).
but the thing is, u see what kind of financial resources clubs like chelsea, man city and bayern can count on, and you know those clubs will still be there 3, 4, 5 years from now..... with a club like napoli instead there are no such guarrantees.

time is not a problem for top clubs... for midclass clubs instead time is a big limit, as it works against u.
quick example; a club like bayern doesn't have to worry about their youngsters development and their future replacement, because, no matter how much muller will develop, no matter how great a player he will be 3 years from now, bayern still will be able to afford his contract renewal. the same doesn't apply to napoli instead. a club like napoli only has a limited time, a limited number of years to build and develop a great team... and to reap the rewards of their good job. because eventually their best assets will outgrow the club (to be more specific, they will outgrow the club's financial power).... and by then napoli won't be able to afford a contract renewal... they will have to let their best assets leave for greener pastures..... and by then they better have some other young promising player ready to take that spot.

what i'm trying to say here is that we could picture the club growth process as a staircase. but the last step of this staircase is huge, it's much bigger than all the other steps put together.
because u can actually build a great team with very limited resources. but in order to keep that team together you're gonna need twice the money u used to build that team.

solid planning, smart management, a good scouting network and a great academy can only help u get very close to the gotha of european football... but in order to make that last step and become a top club u will need money.... a lot of money.
again napoli is the perfect example. thanks to a smart management, a great scouting network, and top notch coaching staff they were able to put together a team with the likes of maggio, lavezzi, cavani, hamsik, inler, gargano, pandev and so on. and they built this team with smaller annual incomes than wigan (wich, as i recently discovered, is the poorest club in epl, incomes-wise).
despite such small resources, they were able to build a team wich can measure itself up against some of europe's biggest powerhouses. all of this thanks to their great management.
but there's only so much great management can do for you. a good scouting network and a great director can spot talented players before the competition gets there.... and getting there first makes all the difference in the world, because it allows u to get a player like lavezzi for 6 millions euros or a player like hamsik for 5 millions. but once u sign them, have them playing for your team, developing their skills and getting the attention of european top clubs, then u're gonna need money to hold them.
at that point money is the only thing that matters. because no matter how good your directors are, they won't be able to hold a player like lavezzi, when top clubs are kocking at his doors, offering him an annual wage wich is more than twice higher than what he's getting right now.

to give u an exact idea of how big is really this "last step" i'm talking about, check out this numbers. to sign lavezzi, cavani, gargano, hamsik, inler and maggio napoli spent 54 millions euros (that's 43 millions pounds). that's a substantial commitment for a club like napoli, but since they built this team over the years, adding 1, 2 pieces at the time, they were able to afford it.
however all theese players are right now on "reasonable wages" (wich are the only kind of wages a club like napoli could afford). cavani and lavezzi get 2 millions per year, inler and hamsik get 1.5 millions, gargano and maggio get 800k per year.

but over the last 2 years, along with their skills and reputations, theese players improved their appeal and now top clubs are already starting to charm napoli's players with offers that napoli could never match. as a result of that, once their contracts will expire, their demands will be much higher.
let's imagine napoli could offer to each of theese players a wage twice as big as their current one. we would be talking about a 4 millions per year contract for cavani and lavezzi, a 3 millions contract for hamsik and inler, a 1.5 millions deal for maggio and gargano (wich aren't even real top club-like figures, as a player like cavani could easily get more than 4 millions per year in a top club).
well a 4 years extension for each of theese players (with theese figures) would cost napoli around 90 millions. amortize that sum according to the years of contract (4) and u end up with a financial commitment of about 22 millions euros per year.
now u can easily realize a club whose incomes are 60 millions per year can't afford to burn one third of that sum only to keep 6 of its players.

so that's the real issue. the only way for napoli to become a "top club" would be to compromise their financial balance. but that's not gonna happen. because financial stability is the nr. 1 priority for serie a midclass clubs today.
we learned this lesson the hard way, about a decade ago. financial recklessness brought fiorentina and napoli to bankrupt and several other clubs (lazio, roma, parma) scarily close to death. and there's no way serie a club owners will repeat the same mistakes.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

Completely agree with Ben - which is also probably why Lavezzi is being sacrificed and will be sold. Pandev and Edu Vargas are likely cheaper options which they already have, plus Insigne from Pescara.

It was quite moving when El Pocho Lavezzi was crying when Napoli won the cup - I think he knew it was his last game for the club.
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

yep, that insigne kid seems to be the real deal. i only saw him twice but he was absolutely unbelievable. he might turn out to be much better than lavezzi himself in a few seasons.

btw, napoli fans singing o' surdato 'nnammurato at 0:45. boy i love that song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rVZnBXWRNc
not the best performance (afterall the olimpico stadium is not the san paolo stadium), but still...

my mother caught the ferry to napoli last night (she's gonna spend a week there with her family). the boat sailed off from palermo at 8 pm (when the game was about to start) and it was obviously packed with napoletani. this morning she told me that as soon as the game ended everyone on that ferry was singing o surdato nnammurato... men, women and children :D
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

Lo Zio what do you think about Sannino at Palermo? I think he has done a great job at Siena, and I'm very interested to see what he does with Palermo next season (hoping that your president behaves!)
 
Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season

Now Bonucci is suspected aswell...

Honestly, I think some high ranked people within Italian football just don't like Juve.
 
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